(rshsdepot) Tuxedo, NY (Erie RR)

["J. Henry Priebe Jr." <root_@_bluemoon.net>]

Thanks to John Isaksen via Paul Tupaczewski on the EL list for the heads up.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071211/NEWS/712110322

J. Henry Priebe Jr.    Blue Moon Internet Corp Network Administrator
www.bluemoon.net       Internet Access & Web Hosting
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Train station to get green overhaul
Tuxedo officials cite finances, environment By Matt King

Times Herald-Record 
December 11, 2007 
TUXEDO . The Tuxedo train station's restoration is the latest building project
in Orange County to go green.

The shuttered station, due to open in about a year, will look as it did 130
years ago, with two major differences . a geothermal heating system and
photovoltaic cells for electricity.

"It's just more environmentally sensitive," Tuxedo Supervisor Peter Dolan
said. "It makes good economic sense. If I can get my heating and electricity
for free, why not do it?"

In recent months, several municipalities have incorporated green building
principles in their projects.

The towns of Wallkill and Warwick have committed to put in solar panels for
their municipal buildings, and county legislators have endorsed a resolution
requiring new county buildings meet certain energy-efficiency standards.

"I think there's a re-evaluation of economics going on in the minds of a lot
of public-sector decision-makers," said Melissa Everett, executive director of
Sustainable Hudson Valley in Kingston.

For many years, the train station housed the Tuxedo Police Department, but the
building closed three years ago when the department relocated. When it
reopens, a third of the building will be used as a train station and the rest
as a community center.

A well sunk deep into the earth will provide heat in the winter and cool the
building in the summer. Dolan envisions turning the solar panels into an
educational installation where people can see how the project returns energy
to the grid.

The $1 million renovation is being completed at the behest of the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, which is paying a large portion of the cost. Dolan
expects a variety of government grants to foot the entire bill.

The combination of solar panels and a geothermal well can be especially
efficient, Everett said.

"With that combination, you get close to zero external energy need," she said.
"It's a very savvy thing to do."

Contact Matt King at mking_@_th-record.com.


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